Corner Office: Big Data and Analytics for Nonprofits

One of the challenges in direct mail fundraising is how to differentiate cultivation treatment among donors in your database. In many cases, you may have only one or two gift transactions to steer decisions. However, if you can use data to determine the "share of wallet" that your organization is likely to receive, how your donor's dollars are split among several charities or whether the donor has an affinity for catalog giving, it would definitely help determine your cultivation strategy.

So embrace Big Data! Listen closely, and you will hear the messages shouted, and even whispered, by your donors.

Tom Harrison is chair of Russ Reid and Omnicom's Nonprofit Group of Agencies. He is also chair of the NonProfit PRO Editorial Advisory Board. Reach him at tharrison@russreid.com